Assessing Auditory Comprehension in Persons with Mild-Moderate Aphasia

Challenges in auditory comprehension ability are some of the most crippling aspects of aphasia. The degree to which auditory comprehension is impacted by aphasia is variable, can be inconsistent, and may depend on the severity of the neural damage. ‘High-level’ aphasic patients can be dismissed or go unnoticed due to ignorance of symptoms, passing scores on standardized assessments, and the frequent, inconspicuous nature of a mild-moderate diagnosis. Understanding deficits in mild-moderate aphasia related to auditory comprehension could aid in choosing beneficial communication modalities for conversation partners to use during intervention, interactions, and daily activities.https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/slp-posters-2023/1025/thumbnail.jp

Transition metal-catalyzed C-N and C-C bond formation: N-tert-prenylation and alkene hydroacylation

This thesis presents the development of new catalysts for the palladium-catalyzed N-tert-prenylation of indoles, the rhodium-catalyzed endo- and enantioselective hydroacylation of ortho-allylbenzaldehydes, studies toward the rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular hydroacylation of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes, and the first examples of the rhodium-catalyzed, enantioselective hydroacylation of 1,1,2-trisubstituted alkenes. Chapter II discusses the development of three distinct protocols for the synthesis of N-tert-prenylindoles using indole, (η6-indole)Cr(CO)3, and indoline nucleophiles. These reactions occur in the presence of the same palladium catalyst prepared in situ from readily available precursors and require loadings of the palladium catalyst that are up to ten times less than required for previously reported direct N-tert-prenylations of indoles. These methods for palladium-catalyzed N-tert-prenylation generate N-tert-prenylindoles with a range of electronic character in high yields (up to 94%) with high tert-prenyl-to-n-prenyl selectivity (up to 12:1). Chapter III describes the development of a rhodium catalyst for endo- and enantioselective hydroacylation of ortho-allylbenzaldehydes. A catalyst generated from [Rh(COD)Cl]2, (R)-DTBM-Segphos and NaBARF promotes the enantioselective hydroacylation reactions and minimizes the formation of byproducts from competitive alkene isomerization and ene/dehydration pathways. These rhodium-catalyzed processes generate the 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one products in moderate-to-high yields (49-91%) with excellent enantioselectivities (96-99% ee). Chapter IV describes studies toward the intramolecular hydroacylation of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes as well as the first examples of catalytic, enantioselective hydroacylation of 1,1,2-trisubstituted alkenes. The intramolecular hydroacylation of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes is facilitated by a cationic rhodium complex and generates the indanone products in high yields (up to 94%). However, the α-center is prone to epimerization and results in racemic mixtures of the bicyclic products. In contrast, the rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular hydroacylation of 1,1,2-trisubstituted alkenes generates highly enantioenriched, polycyclic architectures. The DFT and mechanistic studies presented are consistent with a reaction pathway that includes intramolecular alkene hydroacylation and α-epimerization. This reaction sequence enables the hydroacylation of 2-(cyclohex-1-en-1-yl)benzaldehydes to form hexahydro-9H-fluoren-9-ones in moderate to high yields (68-91%) with high enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) and diastereoselectivities (typically \u3e20:1)

Automatic Classification and Speaker Identification of African Elephant (\u3cem\u3eLoxodonta africana\u3c/em\u3e) Vocalizations

A hidden Markov model (HMM) system is presented for automatically classifying African elephant vocalizations. The development of the system is motivated by successful models from human speech analysis and recognition. Classification features include frequency-shifted Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and log energy, spectrally motivated features which are commonly used in human speech processing. Experiments, including vocalization type classification and speaker identification, are performed on vocalizations collected from captive elephants in a naturalistic environment. The system classified vocalizations with accuracies of 94.3% and 82.5% for type classification and speaker identification classification experiments, respectively. Classification accuracy, statistical significance tests on the model parameters, and qualitative analysis support the effectiveness and robustness of this approach for vocalization analysis in nonhuman species

User participation in watershed management and research:

Many watershed development projects around the world have performed poorly because they failed to take into account the needs, constraints, and practices of local people. Participatory watershed management—in which users help to define problems, set priorities, select technologies and policies, and monitor and evaluate impacts—is expected to improve performance. User participation in watershed management raises new questions for watershed research, including how to design appropriate mechanisms for organizing stakeholders and facilitating collective action. Management of a complex system such as a watershed may also require user participation in the research process itself. An increasing number of watershed research projects are already participatory, however challenges remain to institutionalizing user participation in both watershed management and research.

Stress and Emotion Classification Using Jitter and Shimmer Features

In this paper, we evaluate the use of appended jitter and shimmer speech features for the classification of human speaking styles and of animal vocalization arousal levels. Jitter and shimmer features are extracted from the fundamental frequency contour and added to baseline spectral features, specifically Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for human speech and Greenwood function cepstral coefficients (GFCCs) for animal vocalizations. Hidden Markov models (HMMs) with Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) state distributions are used for classification. The appended jitter and shimmer features result in an increase in classification accuracy for several illustrative datasets, including the SUSAS dataset for human speaking styles as well as vocalizations labeled by arousal level for African elephant and Rhesus monkey species

Chemistry of carbonaceous aerosols : studies of atmospheric processing and OH-initiated oxidation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, February 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-151).Carbonaceous aerosols are among the most prevalent yet least understood constituents of the atmosphere, particularly in urban environments. We have performed analyses of field samples and laboratory studies to probe the physico-chemical properties of soot and organic aerosols in a complimentary approach to obtain information essential for understanding their atmospheric evolution and environmental effects. Samples of particulate matter < 2.5 pm in diameter (PM2.5) were collected from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) for both bulk compositional analysis and single particle characterization. Approximately 50% of the non-volatile component of PM2.5 was found to consist of carbonaceous material, including both soot and organics. Other major components included sulfates, soil/dust and heavy metals indicative of industrial emissions. Single particle analysis confirmed the prevalence of soot particles; our evidence suggests they quickly became internally mixed with sulfates and other inorganic compounds in a day or less through extensive processing during their atmospheric residence times. In the second half of our approach, a Quartz Crystal Microbalance - Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry (QCM-CIMS) system was developed to probe the OH-initiated oxidation of organic and soot thin films as atmospheric aerosol surrogates. Mass loss (volatilization) from the films was observed upon exposure to OH radicals in the presence of 02 at 295 K and 100 Torr. The loss rate was found to be linearly dependent on OH and independent of 02 concentrations over the range 02 _1012 to 2.1018 molec/cm3. A relatively slower mass loss rate in the presence of NOx suggests simultaneous formation of alkyl nitrate compounds potentially important in polluted urban environments. Experimental data were used to extract the rate constants of individual steps within the context of a previously proposed oxidation mechanism.Volatilization was observed in 15% relative humidity at a rate slower than under dry conditions, suggesting water adsorption to the surface. Initially hydrophobic alkane surfaces became noticeably hydrophilic as a result of oxidation. Although the oxidized surfaces did not exhibit measurable water uptake, water contact angle measurements show increased hydrophilicity, suggesting formation of polar (oxygen-containing) organic functional groups.by Kirsten S. Johnson.Ph.D

Rhodium-Catalyzed, Enantioselective Hydroacylation of ortho-Allylbenzaldehydes

The development of a rhodium catalyst for endo- and enantioselective hydroacylation ofortho-allylbenzaldehydes is reported. A catalyst generated in situ from [Rh(COD)Cl]2, (R)-DTBM-SEGPHOS, and NaBARF promotes the desired hydroacylation reactions and minimizes the formation of byproducts from competitive alkene isomerization and ene/dehydration pathways. These rhodium-catalyzed processes generate the 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one products in moderate-to-high yields (49–91%) with excellent enantioselectivities (96–99% ee)

User participation in a converged media world: a model of media convergence

In 1947 Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver proposed a general model of communication. The popular Shannon-Weaver model shows an information source, a message being transmitted, a channel, a receiver, and a destination. This one-way model of communication is principally concerned with technology. Media communication is no longer one-way and it is also no longer just about technology, but also the human experience. This multi-way communication will only be enhanced as newspapers, television, radio, and the internet continue to merge into what has been dubbed by the popular press “converged media.” What might user participation look like in a converged media world? The researcher interviewed eight people at six different colleges and universities across the country. Those interviewed have been instrumental in implementing media convergence at their schools. Through conversations with these convergence leaders the researcher proposes a model of media convergence

Compassion Fatigue among Nurse Leaders

The current state of healthcare with its multifaceted demands related to patient care outcomes and the challenges of managing personnel creates a complex work environment for the nurse leader. Striving to meet the competing needs of the organization, employees, patients and families on a daily basis can result in work related traumatic stress and cause burnout. This places an individual at risk for compassion fatigue (CF). The concept of CF has primarily been studied among direct patient care providers and has not been explored among individuals at the leadership level. The goal of this DNP project was to determine if nurses in leadership positions are at risk for or are experiencing CF. For this study, CF was defined as a state in which a nurse leader experiences an inability to maintain a desired level of compassionate energy, due to frequent and regular exposure to prolonged, emotionally and psychologically challenging managerial circumstances in the workplace (adapted from Andreotta, 2013). A mixed methods approach was utilized to gather demographic data and describe the nurse leader’s level of compassion satisfaction (CS), risk for burnout, and secondary traumatic stress as measured by the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Version 5. The use of open ended questions allowed for the identification of factors in the workplace that are modifiable and can be used to develop a CF prevention program for nurse leaders. Thirty-three nurse leaders from two academic medical centers responded to the research survey which revealed an average to high level of CS, coupled with low to average level of burnout and WRTS among the nurse leaders as measured by the ProQOL V5. CS mean score was 54.55 (SD = 3.94), burnout mean score was 43.11 (SD = 4.04), and WRTS mean score was 41.73 (SD = 3.81). The qualitative data provided insight on the source of CF in the work environment which included employee, patient, and organizational stressors. Potential solutions for mitigation and prevention identified by the nurse leaders included personal and organizational solutions such as enhancing coping skills, developing resiliency skills and increasing organizational support. This study identified the presence of risk factors for the development of CF fatigue among nurse leaders and elements in the work environment that can be modified to prevent this condition. These finding may be used to create a satisfactory Professional Quality of Life for the nurse leader which impacts their role effectiveness and supports the delivery of quality patient care.D.N.P., Nursing Practice -- Drexel University, 201